Investing Like a Pro

This episode is the beginning of a podcast series that I plan to release every Tuesday over the next few weeks. My average podcast runs a little over 45 minutes, but I want to share shorter episodes called “shots” that will share something educational, inspirational or motivational. I recently shared a motivational shot and now I want to share some investment education.

Investing is the number one topic requested from my podcast listeners, specifically investing for beginners; and this series plans to address those needs. The point of this series is for somebody who is not very comfortable with investing to listen through all of it and feel like they can do it themselves and invest like a professional. These investing shots episodes are recorded with the newest Martinis and Your Money Podcast sponsor – DIY Fund. I am so excited to partner with Wendy and Eric from DIY Fund because we all share the same philosophy that you don’t need to pay a financial professional to invest, with the right tools, you can do it yourself.

Shot of the day

To kick off the series with a bang, we decided to start with a fireball shot

Podcast Notes:

Every individual needs to think of themselves as a portfolio manager and when you invest, you invest your various portfolios based on your life goals just as a professional portfolio manager would manager a fund towards a certain benchmark like the S&P 500.

You need to understand that you are not looking at your individual assets as your net result, but looking at the combination of all the things you own.

Money that you are looking to invest should be money that you don’t need for any specific goals for at least two years or longer.

The average return of the S&P over the last 20 years was 9.9% and the average investor returns was 2.5%.

A portfolio for retirement and a portfolio for money you’ll need sooner will look very different.

If you have the right portfolio for the right scenario, it’s easier to remove the emotion around investing.

Investing is not scary or complicated as long as you set it up correctly in the beginning.

Once you set your portfolio framework, it is so simple to manage.

Investing Like A Professional Action Steps

The first thing professionals do when starting a portfolio is ask what the intention is of that portfolio.

Assess your risk tolerance.

Create a framework for your portfolio and stick with it.

Look at your investments as a portfolio instead of individual stocks, ETFs or mutual funds.

Do you feel comfortable investing on your own? If so, what’s your investment philosophy? If not, what do you want to know more about?

Shannon is a financial planner who left a “traditional” financial services firm to start her own company, The Financial Gym, because she felt traditional financial services firms did not have the tools or resources to help people in their 20s and 30s who are starting out and trying to build assets while also managing debt. She realized that the key to long-term personal financial success is a commitment to financial fitness and making smart financial choices.
Through her blog, Financially Blonde, her book, Train Your Way To Financial Fitness, her podcast, Martinis and Your Money and The Financial Gym, Shannon is committed to making financial fitness fun, easy and accessible for everyone.

I think the most important thing I realized is how uninterested I was in investing. I want to do it, I need to do it, but I’m not one who willingly will spend a lot of time on it each week (or each month). Now I plan my investments around that philosophy, sticking my money in mutual funds or ETFs on a consistent basis so that I’m not constantly watching the market. I definitely learned it doesn’t have to be difficult if you don’t want it to be!

I do feel pretty comfortable but only because I mostly invest in Vanguard index funds. It’s really hard to go wrong. As I get closer to retirement, I’ll have to either enlist some help or study a bit more to make sure everything is in the right place. Right now, I know it will be many years until I use investment money so the main focus is to keep growing the balance.

Investing seems like a difficult task for everybody as all of us love to spend or splurge. We often go beyond our budget which makes us financially broke. Investing needs self-discipline and of course, planning. You need to create a record of all your spending to monitor your finances.

I feel good about my investments. Concentrated on all dividend paying stocks, buying enough shares to DRIP 1 or 2 shares each dividend payout. I have 252 shares coming to me in various blue chip companies.